Omaha, NE—News Channel Nebraska has learned that city officials in Omaha, who are taking a hard look at the future of two historic apartment buildings near downtown, are now armed with new legal ammunition.

The owner of the buildings, Dave Palladino, wants 285 thousand dollars in Tax Increment Financing to help pay for the fixer-upper.

At the same time though Palladino is accused of running slumlord operations in other parts of town, leading to talk that the city council should put strings on the TIF deal.

And according to a legal opinion from City Attorney Paul Kratz the city can do just that: “It is the opinion of the law department that the council can consider past practices of a developer that has sustained multiple code violations outside the plan area as impacting the effort to prevent the occurrence of insanitary or unsafe dwelling conditions.”